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Student Handout
#1
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Want to learn more about climate change?See the High School Backgrounders at: http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/section-BG/B3_HighSchool_Outline.html |
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Important Note: If you’d like to get a more exact, computer-calculated estimate of your GHGs and how to reduce them, go to one of these computer calculators: |
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How could you make changes in your home that would reduce your greenhouse gases (GHGs) by one tonne? Because you’re not an adult, you don’t necessarily have the ability to make household changes. But you can take actions yourself, and you can also influence your family and friends to take action to reduce GHGs. This table tells you how you can reach your one-tonne goal. You can reduce your GHG emissions by individual actions that you can do yourself, and you also get credit for encouraging other people to take action. Go through the table and see what actions you and your family can take to reduce GHGs.
next
to the actions you want to take. next
to the actions you will influence someone else to take. (Put more than
one if
you can convince more than one person.)You probably won’t be able to do all the actions yourself. It’s not up to you to get a new refrigerator, for example, but you might be able to influence someone else to do it. And don’t expect yourself to do all of these options. Just try to pick the ones you can do, or the ones your family might agree to do. It’s amazing how fast these actions add up to one tonne!
In 2000, Canadians generated over 31 million tonnes of waste – over 1 tonne each! 23 million tonnes were sent for disposal – imagine 21 football fields piled 1 km high with garbage!
This has a lot to do with GHG emissions. The energy used in making, packaging and transporting products, and disposing of the waste creates GHGs – over half a tonne per person each year! You can reduce your GHGs by buying less, avoiding over-packaging, re-using, recycling and composting.
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Some Recycling Facts:It takes a lot more energy to make products out of raw materials than it does to re-make them out of recycled material. Here are the energy savings when you buy recycled products rather than products made from new materials:
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The GHG amounts in the table, unless otherwise indicated, are the kilograms of GHGs reduced per year by each person in the household, based on a household of 4 people. If you can persuade others to take action, you get credit for that, too. Check out the example, to see how this might work.
Actions You |
Kg of GHG Emissions Reduced |
YES, |
YES, I’ll get |
Kg of GHGs Reduced |
Cut down on “stuff”Every time you buy something, energy has to be used to manufacture, package, and transport it. After use, it often goes to the dump and produces methane – more GHGs! |
If you reduce consumption by 10%, you can reduce your GHGs by 50 kg/yr per person. (10% isn’t very much –think of how much
equipment, clothes, and food you buy and think of doing without one-tenth
of it. Think of other ways of reducing – buying second-hand
clothes and equipment.) |
e.g., 50 kg – because I’m going to cut back
on clothes |
50 kg – because I’m going to persuade my aunt to do the same thing |
100 kg |
Re-use and recycle.Recycling reduces energy and conserves natural resources. Goods made from recycled materials instead of new materials use less energy. Studies show that about 70% of the household
waste
we put in the garbage could be either recycled or composted. |
Every kg of paper you recycle reduces your GHGs
by 4 kg Or – reducing your garbage by 25% (1½ garbage
bags instead of 2) means you reduce your GHGs by 125 kg per person. |
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Compost your veggie scraps.When we don’t compost the organic household waste from our kitchens and yards, it decomposes in landfills, producing methane – one of the main GHGs. Learn more about
composting at http://www.compost.org
/ |
Keeping organic waste out of the landfill can reduce your GHGs by 42 kg per person. |
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Recycle your grass clippings.Keep grass clippings on your lawn
where they break down and add needed nutrients to the lawn. |
Keeping grass out of your garbage can reduce your GHG’s by 30 kg per person. |
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Buy local.The average food item is transported 2000 km to arrive at your table. A 40-tonne transport truck releases 5,000 kilograms of GHGs for one typical shipment of food. |
By buying local foods, you can reduce your GHGs by up to 50 kg per person. |
It’s not always easy to figure out transportation GHG emissions. Amounts depend on what kind of car you or your family drives, and how many people ride in the car. If you are a driver, or if the family car is used specifically to transport you to various places, you can figure out the emissions you personally will reduce, and put this under Column 3.
If you are influencing someone else – your parents, for instance – to drive less, or to slow down, then you will need to put the amount reduced in Column 4.
Often, you will have to estimate in this section. The amounts given below are per car, per year. If you can convince your whole family to take action, then you can get the entire “per car” amount. If only half the family members take action, or only take the action half the time, then enter half the “per car” amount. Don’t worry about getting the exact figure, but try to get a general idea of your GHG emissions, and how to reduce them. We’ve included an example for the first action item, just to give an idea of how this might work.
Actions
You |
Kg
of GHG Emissions Reduced |
YES, |
YES,
I’ll get |
Kg
of GHGs Reduced |
Drive less.Road transportation is responsible for 46% of the average Canadian's personal GHGs. For every 4 km you don’t drive, your family reduces 1 kg of GHG’s. Ways to Approach This: Or: How many kg of GHG’s could you reduce by walking to school 3 days a week? Carpooling to events? Walking formula: You reduce 1 kg for every 4 km you walk instead of driving. Carpooling formula: If you carpool instead of driving by yourself, you reduce 1 kg for every 8 km you carpool with 1 other person, or 1 kg for every 6 km you carpool with 2 other people. Bus formula: You reduce 1 kg
for every
6 km you take the bus instead of driving. |
If you reduce your driving by 10% (that’s 20,000 km for the average Canadian driver), you reduce GHGs by 500 kg for a mid-size car. (If you can convince your whole family to take this action all the time, put down the whole amount. Otherwise, put down an estimate for the amount you can reduce, and the amount the others in your family will reduce.) (Note: To arrive at more precise savings
related to vehicle-type, go to the lesson entitled Calculating
Your Travel
GHGs or http://www.oee. |
e.g., 260 kg – |
125 kg – |
385 kg |
Don’t idle.Idling is a big problem in the North – spewing out piles of GHGs. Although many people think idling is good for their engines, it isn’t. According to car makers, it is best for your engine to idle for no more than 30 seconds on winter days before driving away. Some tips to keep you cozy, when you reduce your idling:
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If you reduce your idling by 10 minutes per day, you reduce 250 kg per car each year. (What’s a realistic estimate for you or your family?) |
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Slow down.Every 1 km/h reduction in highway cruising speed reduces fuel consumption, fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions by about 1%. |
For the average driver, reducing driving speed by 10% reduces GHGs by 170 kg per car. (Or 5% reduces 85 kg per car) (What’s
a realistic estimate for you or your family?) |
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Replace your vehicle with one that is more fuel-efficient.If your family needs to get a new vehicle think of buying a smaller, more efficient one. Some average GHG emissions/year: Large SUV – 7.5
tonnes (7,500 kg) Check out vehicle efficiency
on http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/ |
Figure out how many GHGs you could reduce (per person) if you changed your current vehicle for a more efficient one. (e.g., If you exchanged your SUV for a mid-sized car, your family would reduce 2000 kg) |
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Switch to ethanol-blend gasoline.Most ethanol-blend gas has up to 10% of the gasoline replaced by ethanol – a form of alcohol made from grain. Using this gas will lead to a 4% reduction in GHGs. If
all gasoline in Canada was blended with ethanol, we could reduce
our GHGs by 5 million tonnes per year. |
The average driver using ethanol-blend gas would reduce GHGs by 200 kg per car, and ethanol-blend gas usually costs the same as regular gas. (What’s a realistic estimate for you or your family?) |
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Take your car in for regular maintenance and tire pressure checks.A poorly maintained vehicle can increase fuel consumption by up to 50%. Each under-inflated tire causes a 1% increase in
fuel consumption. Check your tire pressure monthly. |
Keeping your car tuned up and tires properly inflated could reduce 460 kg per car. (What’s a realistic estimate for you or your family?) |
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Reduce air travel.Air travel (including air travel for work) is responsible for 10% of the average Canadian’s personal GHGs. Just ten hours of air travel typically produces one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions per person. |
Think about how many GHGs it takes to get you from your community to the south and back! (It takes about 5 hours to travel from Whitehorse to Vancouver return.) If you can cut back 5 hours of flying, you reduce your GHGs by 500 kg per person. |
Space heating accounts for over half of GHG emissions produced by the average Canadian home. Cutting down on heat waste is a priority to reduce GHGs. The GHG amounts in the table are (unless otherwise stated) the amount of GHGs reduced per year by each person in the household, based on a household of 4 people. However, most of these actions are carried out by the entire household. So if you can get your family to participate, you can multiply by 4 to get your total savings. (Even if you have fewer than or more than 4 people in your family, use the number 4 to get the total household GHG reduction.)
Actions
You |
Kg
of GHG Emissions Reduced |
YES, |
YES,
I’ll get |
Kg
of GHGs Reduced |
Check your weather-stripping around doors/windows and caulk up any cracks.Air leakage wastes up to 40% of the heat in your house! Weather-stripping and/or caulking (which is usually
pretty cheap) will stop all that warm air from escaping – and
save money, too. |
If your family uses caulking and weather-stripping to reduce home heating needs by 5%, you will reduce GHGs by 65 kg/yr per person. (Multiply by 4 if you can get your family to do it!) |
e.g., I try to persuade my family to weather-strip the whole house. |
130 kg – |
130 kg |
Lower the temperature at night and when nobody is home.At night, it’s usually more comfortable to have the temperature cooler, and doesn’t make sense to heat the house when no one is home. A programmable thermostat will make temperature
control easy! |
If you lower the thermostat when you aren’t at home, or overnight, you reduce your GHGs by 190 kg/yr, if you use natural gas; 275 kg if you use oil to heat your home. (Multiply
by 4 if you can get your family to do it!) |
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Replace your old windows with more efficient ones.You can lose 25% of your home heat due to inefficient windows. Switching to high-performance windows can cut heat loss by 50%! |
If you replace old windows with high-efficiency Energy-Star windows, you will reduce your GHG emissions by about 50 kg per window. (This is not a per-person figure. But if you can
persuade your family to replace some windows, you can take credit
for the full amount.) |
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Upgrade your insulation.The more insulation in your attic, walls and basement, the less energy is needed for heating. |
Putting more efficient insulation into basement and above ground walls, and in the attic can reduce heat loss by about 250 kg per person. (Multiply by 4 if you can get your family to do
it!) |
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Install an energy-efficient furnace.A conventional furnace wastes a lot of energy – up to 45% of the energy in the fuel. New, efficient furnaces waste less than 10% of the energy. You can save on heating costs, and pay back the cost of the furnace in about 7 years. |
Replacing your current space heating system with a fuel-efficient one will reduce up to 375 kg (per person) if you are replacing a natural gas system; or 550 kg if you are upgrading an oil furnace. (Multiply by 4 if your family does this.) |
Water heating accounts for 22% of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by an average Canadian home. Time to cut down! The amounts below, unless otherwise indicated, are the amount of GHGs reduced per year by each person in the household, based on a household of 4 people. If you can get your family to take action, multiply by the number of people in your family.
Actions
You |
Kg
of GHG Emissions Reduced |
YES, |
YES,
I’ll get |
Kg
of GHGs Reduced |
Install low-flow showerheads. (And shorten those showers!)One-third of your family’s water heating bill probably goes to pay for showers. Low-flow showerheads reduce water used for showers by about 50%. Even without low-flow showerheads, you can reduce GHG emissions by taking short showers. A 5-min. shower uses 50% less energy than a bath. |
Option 1: By installing low-flow showerheads (which are cheap and easy to install) you can reduce 75 kg of GHGs per person. (Multiply by the number of people in your family to get the full benefit.) Option 2: Replacing baths
with short showers can reduce 35 kg of GHGs per person. |
e.g., 35 kg – |
150 kg – |
185 kg |
Use cold water to wash your clothes.About
25% of all the hot water you use in your household is used to
wash clothes. And, amazingly, clothes can get just as clean in
cold
water, especially using a cold-water detergent. |
Switching to cold- water washing
will reduce your GHGs by 150 kg/yr per person. |
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Fill up the dishwasher before you run it.Use the energy-saving setting to dry the dishes
(the air-drying cycle). Tip: Scraping off the dishes instead of
rinsing saves hot
water, too. |
Increasing the efficiency of your dishwashing can reduce your GHGs by 90 kg/yr per person. |
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Turn down your hot water temperature to 49°C.The standard temperature setting for water heaters is usually around 60ºC. But 49°C is fine for most home needs, and lowering the temperature reduces energy consumption and heating bills. |
Lowering the temperature on your
water heater won’t hurt, and will reduce your GHGs by about
40 kg/yr per person. |
Your home, with its appliances and lights, emits a lot of GHGs. This is especially true if you live in an area where electricity is produced by burning diesel. If you live in Yukon, which produces most of its electricity by hydro-electric power, you don’t produce a lot of GHGs when you turn on a light. But if you live in NWT or Nunavut, where diesel is used to produce electricity, your home electricity users are big GHG emitters. You can reduce a lot of GHGs if you reduce electricity use at your house.
Here are the GHGs emitted from electricity in the three regions:
Region |
How electricity |
Grams of GHG |
Average kg of GHG |
Yukon |
88% – hydro |
63 |
209 |
NWT |
20% – natural gas |
333 |
1119 |
Nunavut |
100% – diesel |
500 |
1675 |
With these figures in mind, we give three different figures for GHG emissions below: one for each of the regions. The amounts below, unless otherwise indicated, are the amount of GHGs reduced per year by each person in the household, based on a household of 4 people.
Actions
You |
Kg
of GHG Emissions Reduced |
YES, |
YES,
I’ll get |
Kg
of GHGs Reduced |
Replace your light bulbs with fluorescent or halogen bulbs.(PS: Turn off the lights when you’re not using them!) Compact fluorescent and halogen bulbs use about 75% less electricity than standard bulbs, and last a lot longer. If every household in Canada changed just one traditional incandescent light bulb to an Energy Star- qualified compact fluorescent light, Canadians would save over $73 million in energy costs every year. It would also reduce GHGs by 397,000 tonnes per year – the same as taking 66,000 cars off the road! |
Replace 60 W bulbs with 13 W compact fluorescent bulbs. For every light bulb you change, your family reduces its GHGs by: NWT – 29 kg (If you can persuade your family to do this, multiply by the number of lightbulbs replaced, and take credit for the full amount!) By turning off the lights when not needed, you can reduce your GHGs (per person) by: NWT – 20 kg |
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Replace old appliances.Fridges: A 2002 model uses less than half the electricity of a unit built 10 years ago. Washers: Front-loading washing machines or water-efficient top-loading Energy Star models use about 40% less water per load than regular top-loading washers. |
An Energy Star refrigerator uses less than half the electricity of a 10-year-old fridge, and can reduce your per person GHGs by: NWT – 50 kg Replacing your clothes dryer with an energy-efficient one will reduce (per person): NWT – 45 kg |
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Turn off TV, computer and equipment when not in use.A computer that runs 24 hours a day uses up to $120 worth of electricity each year. |
By shutting off lights and equipment when not in use, you can reduce your per person GHG emissions by: NWT – 20 kg |
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Get rid of the second fridge.Do you really need that second refrigerator? It could be responsible for one-tenth or more of your home's electricity bill. |
Getting rid of your older, second fridge could reduce (per person): NWT – 83 kg |
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Limit use of gas lawn mowers and snow blowers.Using
a typical gas-powered mower produces as much air pollution as
a car driven 550 kilometers. |
By using push-power instead of gas-power to mow the lawn, you reduce 12 kg per person. |
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Bonus Points – Take Political Action!Write
a letter to a political representative or to the editor of your
paper,
suggesting actions that would reduce GHG emissions. |
Writing letters is one way to influence lots of people. Give yourself a credit of 100 kg. |
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TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS |
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Note: All of the values listed in this chart are based on averages and are also rounded off. They are intended to give you a general idea of the difference you can make in various ways, rather than to give you an exact number.
Main Data Sources: NRCan, Pembina Institute
Audit your house:
The government and local Energy Centres have advisors who can assess your home and recommend energy saving measures. Book an EnerGuide Audit at one of these numbers:
Your home may be eligible for a grant, too! Check it out at: http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/houses/.
Lighting & Equipment:
Water:
Windows:
Furnace:
Kitchen & Laundry:
Vehicles:
Snow machines:
Outboard motors:
These tips are from The GreenHog Handbook: a practical Yukon guide to the One-Tonne Challenge, published by the Energy Solutions Centre, Whitehorse.
Here is a list of actions I am committed to take, to help reduce climate change:
Individual Actions |
Kg of GHG reductions |
I commit to |
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I commit to |
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I commit to |
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I commit to |
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I commit to |
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I commit to |
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I commit to |
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TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS |
Encouraging Others to Take Action |
Kg of GHG reductions |
I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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I will get __________________ to _______________________ |
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TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS |
Signed: ___________________________ Date: ____________________
How often have you decided to make a change in the way you do something and then just never got around to it? This often happens when people learn about climate change. They really want to change their actions, but they never really change their behaviour.
Here are some ideas that might help you maintain your commitments. Look the ideas over, discuss them with friends, and figure out which ones would work best for you. (You may come up with more ideas, too!)
Having even one other person who is trying to do the same thing will often give you the motivation to keep on trying. What about getting together a little group – students, family, etc. – who are trying to reduce GHGs?
The challenge of someone else trying to beat you is often enough to push you to new heights. Can you think of a friend you could challenge to a GHG-reduction competition? (Note: Your teacher might be able to help you set up a competition between members of your class, or a competition between classes.)
If you write out what you intend to do and post your intention list where others can see it, you may feel more like following through.
Posting reminders around your house will help you remember what you intend to do, and why. Try making mini-posters from some of the information in the Action Plan handout.
Why are we concerned about climate change? What things about nature are really important to us, important enough to make us cut down on our driving? Take time to get out on the land. Remind yourself of why it is important to preserve our environment. You may want to make a list!
Many of the individual ideas above will also help to inspire your family. Here are a few more ideas.
If you’re concerned about climate change, tell your family how you feel, and why. Chances are, they’ll share your concerns.
Encourage other people to write out a commitment, rather than just say they will take action. Check in with the people you have encouraged to take action to see if they have done so.
A sign in your window saying “Our family is reducing our GHG emissions to save this planet” (or something like that) could help your family keep their commitment and maybe inspire your neighbours. Your sign may say how much you reduced and how much you intend to reduce this year.
When you reduce energy, you save money, too. Check out the websites listed below for information on how much money your family could save by reducing energy costs. That’s a good motivator!
Individual and family efforts to reduce our ecological footprint are great, but it’s important to get other folks moving, too. How can you inspire other people in your school or community to reduce their climate change impact? Here is a process your class (or any other group) might go through to decide on an action.
Decide what you want, then create a goal statement, such as:
This is the time to be creative. A good way to encourage creative thinking is to brainstorm ideas. The strategy you come up with needs to be one that works for your school and community.
Some strategies that have been used to promote environmental change include:
Whatever strategy you come up with should have an action component. There’s no sense getting people all motivated about an issue if you don’t provide at least a suggestion for action. (What about including a letter-writing table at that informational evening?)
Take the One-Tonne Challenge:
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/english/
One Less Tonne:
http://www.onelesstonne.ca/
EPA Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterToolsGHGCalculator.html
Guide to the One-Tonne Challenge (downloadable print resource in pdf
format):
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/english/OTCTipsGuide-e.pdf
Eco-Geeks (fun and interesting):
http://www.airhead.org/EcoGeeks/
The GreenHog Handbook: A Practical Yukon Guide to the One-Tonne Challenge:
A
free publication with lots of practical ideas for northerners. To order:
Energy Solutions Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon: 867-393-7073.
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